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William Reid
Profile Family and Early Life The Reid family had long ties back throughout the history of Britain. At one point, the Sussex-based family had been leading nobility, with Lord Reid controlling a large portion of Sussex. Unfortunately, as the centuries went on, the family had less and less influence over the land. By 1917, the title of Lord had slipped away from the family; however they still held influence on Sussex, with a large estate near the town of Battle, in East Sussex. The “lord of the manor” was Brigadier Anthony Reid, an ex-army officer, who finished his career as the Executive Officer of the Sixth Infantry Division before retiring in 1918. The Brigadier had two sons, the eldest Thomas Reid, soon left the family tree, dying quite suddenly in an automobile accident not long after his 1895 birth. The second son, Edward, only a year the junior of Thomas found himself pressured by his father throughout his youth. Eventually, he took a position in the parliament, sitting with the Conservative party. Whilst in London with his work, he became involved with a young woman of no particular background, Miss Jennifer Scott. In 1912, they celebrated with the birth of a son, Thomas named for his late uncle, and in 1917 William. It was decided that Jennifer and the two sons would live full-time with their Grandfather in Battle, while Edward would live in London whilst parliament was in session and on the estate when it wasn’t. William looked up to Thomas, the brother just under five years his elder was a constant source of entertainment as the two boys grew. Their Grandfather had a firm belief that both of the young boys would avoid the “wishy-washy” path of their father, and take the proper jobs of nobility – officers in the British army. As such, he deliberately left the manor an environment to stimulate their young minds and mould them. Walls were decorated with rifles of various eras, and paintings of battles, showing the British Empire triumphing over native forces as it spread civilisation to the corners of the world. The Brigadier always wore an old army uniform, kept in pristine condition and an Enfield Mk II revolver taking pride of place on his hip. He encouraged the boys, telling them of brilliant stories with his time in the army, visiting exotic places, amazing experiences, and altogether turning them off of the prospect of a career in politics. The two boys were initially home-schooled by a private tutor, but upon the boys turning thirteen they were sent away to Eton. William was a pupil of King Henry house. At the school, they were taught all of the subject’s appropriate, religion, arts, Latin and history. Religion and sports were deemed as the most important of all, though, being drilled into the pupils from day one. Time at Sandhurst In 1931, Thomas joined the British Army, and was sent away to Sandhurst military academy. The entire family was incredibly proud, apart from William who could only feel envy for his older brother. He wished for the attention, to be doted over like Thomas. He redoubled his efforts at the school he had not long started, taking up boxing as an effort to get over the anger. Over the years, he steadily grew bigger and more determined, obsessing over getting in to the army. In his third year, a month after his sixteenth birthday, he was hit with a blow like a hammer. His father was killed. He was flying over England, when the aircraft, a small Tiger Moth crashed. Both Edward Reid and the pilot perished when the light aircraft was destroyed. The accident crushed the family. Jennifer refused to leave her room for two weeks, crying non-stop. The only thing that pulled her out was the sound of a gunshot. She entered the grand hall of the manor to find Brigadier Anthony Reid collapsed on the floor, his Enfield Mk II in his limp grip, his brains covering the wall. The tragedy sent William over the edge, the young man receiving the news whilst in boxing training. He lashed out, knocking his trainer to the ground in a few blows, eventually being restrained by a pair of rugby players leaping on his back, crushing him on the musty boxing ring floor. The small incident was forgotten by the headmaster, putting it down to “acute mental stress” and suggesting that William spent a few days at home to recover. He spent a lot of that time at the manor outside, riding a chestnut horse, Thrasher around the acres of forest surrounding the house with one of the Lee Enfield rifles from the walls of the house in his arm, hunting down deer and boar, and the common game inside the grounds. He felt a return of control to his life as he lined up the animals, exhausted and defeated in the sights of the rifle before squeezing the trigger. Upon his return to Eton, he seemed to others darker, a gaunter figure, more reclusive. However, in this time, his brother returned. After having been in the army for five years with several wheels greased, he was now a senior Captain, looking at becoming a Major by the end of the year. Yet again, William felt a great jealousy towards him, wanting that life. For the remaining two years of his schooling, the simple fact was nothing much happened out of the ordinary. He fell back in to the throng of Etonian. It was with great pride that in March 1939, he was accepted in to Sandhurst. Here, he was planned in First “Gaza” Company, Second Platoon. It was here he would spend the next 44 weeks, training, preparing for the career which would dominate his life. Military Career When Reid graduated January 1940, Britain was still fighting. Second Lieutenant Reid was posted to do Corps training for the armoured corps of the British army. This was an interesting position, with the tactics of modern combat only just adjusting to the use of vehicles. Indeed, war had changed a lot since 1918 where correct tactics appeared to be for all ranks to march in file towards the enemy position. The idea of using mechanised units as a spearhead, and then using smaller amounts of infantry to secure objectives was radical, to say the least. This lead to a further ten weeks of training, focused around the Infantry Tank Mk II, the “Matilda”, the 25 tonne tank was a deadly weapon which Second Lieutenant Reid learnt to control, and use effectively. By time he had finished all his training, it was turning April 1940. The war had been going on for eight months now, and it showed no signs of stopping early. Europe was still dominated by the “Phoney War,” with neither side making any attempts at aggression towards each other on the continent. In Africa, however, British Armoured divisions were sparring with Italian and German tanks and infantry, and sometimes to quite heavy losses. With the two hundred officers from Sandhurst now split up, William found himself promoted to Lieutenant, and shipping away to North Africa under the 7th Armoured Division. Tyler Brentwood was his driver for at least a small period in 1939. He took Aaron Mitchell's position in Captain Liam Brentwood's unit. Category:Characters of Issuing Orders